Category: Drones

Local Police Receive DHS Grant for Drones to Use in Crime Search and Crowd Control By Nicholas West Police departments around the U.S. continue doing their best to acquire drones for a range of uses. This move is buoyed by the fact that Homeland Security is funding their arrival into local communities. Portsmouth, New Hampshire is the latest to receive federal funds to the tune of $75K for “one large drone, two medium drones and a few small drones,” according to a report from the Portsmouth Patch. As I’ve reported…

Police Use Drones To Spy On Suspicious People At “Potential Crime Scenes” By MassPrivateI For years, law enforcement has been claiming that drones will only be used for natural disasters, crime scene investigations, car accidents and rescue operations. That is the bill of goods being sold to the public, but it is all a lie. A perfect example of how law enforcement promises the public one thing and, after time passes, uses it for something else is taking place in Texas at the Memorial Villages Police Department (MVPD). ﻿ Two…

What’s That Buzzing Overhead? It’s An OSHA Drone By Walter Olson “That buzzing noise over a construction site could be an OSHA drone searching for safety violations,” notes Littler Mendelson lawyer Tammy McCutchen in a piece for the Federalist Society. Quoting a U.S. Department of Labor memorandum from May of last year obtained by Bloomberg Law, McCutchen writes that “your friendly neighborhood OSHA inspector is now authorized by the Labor Department ‘to use camera-carrying drones as part of their inspections of outdoor workplaces.’” What about the Fourth Amendment, you may ask? Well, court…

Russia Tests Hypersonic “Avangard” State Of The Art Projectile; And Nuclear Capable Underwater Drone By Aaron Kesel Russia has tested its hypersonic weapons that Activist Post reported Putin had teased just last week. The hypersonic weapon’s name is Avangard, a state-of-the-art hypersonic projectile, that can travel at more than 30,000km/h, according to Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, RT reported. Borisov told Rossiya 24 TV channel that the test of the weapon proved the hypersonic glider can travel an incredible speed at Mach 27, stating no known weapon can intercept…

DARPA Seeks FAA Approval For Military Drones Over American Cities By 2030 – At The Latest By Nicholas West Just a little over 10 years after drone surveillance inside U.S. borders was declared a conspiracy theory, it is now an indisputable fact of life. So, too, are military grade drones along the “border,” which in reality constitutes a 100-mile-wide swath that encircles the continental United States and 2/3 of its population. According to a new report from Defense One, this level of access is still seen as a restriction by…

Drones Unleashed to Find Tax Evaders as Greece Sets Disturbing Precedent By Nicholas West Anyone who is looking to understand exactly what the term “mission creep” means and why privacy advocates warn of its negative impact, here is another case study. Greece is apparently battling a “black economy” in one of its most popular tourist attractions: the island of Santorini. According to tax authorities, the area has become a hotbed of tax evasion, primarily by day trip organizers who are not properly recording their income. As reported by Yahoo News,…

Has The Era Of Autonomous Warfare Finally Arrived? By Nicholas West The global arms race for the latest weapons of war is a naturally escalating cycle of countries pursuing ways to dominate the battlefield of the future. Increasingly, that battlefield is a matrix of soldiers with traditional weapons, robots, drones and cyberweapons. Until this point, command over this matrix has ultimately been in the hands of humans. Now, however, many of the trends in artificial intelligence-driven autonomy are enabling data collection, analysis and potentially combat to be done by algorithms.…

New Kentucky Law Puts Limits on Drone Spying, Will Help Thwart Federal Surveillance Program By Michael Maharrey On Saturday, a Kentucky law went into effect requiring police to get a warrant before engaging in drone surveillance in most situations. The new law not only establishes important privacy protections at the state level, it will also help thwart the federal surveillance state. Rep. Diane St. Onge (R-Lakeside Park) and Rep. Reginald Meeks (D-Louisville) sponsored House Bill 22 (HB22). The new law prohibits the use of a drone for a “search” unless…

How Long Before Chinese-made Axon Police Drones Start Killing Americans? By MassPrivateI Not content with police body cams, Axon formerly known as Taser wants to equip police departments with Chinese-made surveillance drones. Three weeks ago, Chinese drone manufacturer DJI reported that they are partnering with Axon. DJI, the world’s leader in civilian drones and aerial imaging technology, and Axon the global leader in connected law enforcement technologies, announced an exclusive partnership, to sell DJI drones directly to public safety and law enforcement agencies worldwide through the new Axon Air program.(Source) ﻿ Axon…